Minimum payment is FULL balance?

[kork13]

So I just got the statement for my Discover card, and was surprised to realize that it listed my 'new balance' as my 'minimum payment'. I always pay the balance in full anyway, so I normally ignore the minimum payment. Looking back at the last few months' statements, it appears that this changed in February. Previously, it was always $15 or presumably some % of the balance (balance is always less than $100/mo, so even 5-10% would be lower). So that previous policy made sense. Now, it appears that the minimum payment is the full balance.

So I'm trying to figure this out. My only thought is that this is an attempt to get late-payment fees and default-APR finance charges. In fact, just below the 'minimum payment' line is a notice stating that if the min. payment is not received by the due date, a $39 late fee and default APR of 18% can be applied. I've also not gotten a change to my cardholder terms of service recently to explain the apparently new policy.

I'm not really overly concerned, because I always pay in full anyway, but do find it a bit alarming (if in fact this is what they're trying to do). Has anyone else with a Discover (or any other) card noticed this?

[creditcardfree]

I don't have the card, but it seems a call to customer service would be good idea. It would nice to know ahead of time, in case something were to happen where you could not pay in full.

[deedee421]

Discover increased my minimum payment with no warning in January. I'm locked into a low teaser rate until 2012, and I do not pay my balance in full each month. I'm snowballing my debt so I called customer service to complain and was told that it was done to "help me" payoff my balance, but they agreed to lower it at my request.

[Daylily]

Interesting. I'll be checking my Discover card statement when it arrives. I always pay in full anyway so I'm not worried.
Actually sometimes I expect the opposite - that they are going to tell me the maximum payment that they will accept from me so that they can finally earn some interest on my account rather than me just paying in full all the time and earning the cash back rewards.

[neatdesign]

I have a Discover card and encountered the same jump in my minimum payment percentage back in January (for my February due date). It had been around $18/month (or 2%) typically, and then suddenly it spiked up to $60, or 6.25%.

I called Discover right away to ask what the deal was. The rep explained that a letter had been sent out advising me that my minimum payment percentage was increasing. (I never saw this letter, and I'm pretty good about reading any notices that come in.) However, before I even had a chance to ask, he went ahead and offered to drop it back down to 2% again. I still had to pay $60 on my January statement (which luckily I could do), but starting the old minimum payment percentage would appear again on my February statement. He was extremely polite and helpful, and it took all of about 5 minutes.

Oddly enough, just yesterday I got notice of another change to my Discover card, but this is a GOOD one:

Some background: My Discover balance is made up almost entirely of a 0%-until-paid-off balance transfer, which I did when I opened the account back in 2006. The caveat is that I have to make 3 purchases every billing cycle in order to maintain the 0% on the BT balance, which is currently around $900 (down from $3100 originally).

So every month in the beginning of my billing cycle, I go to the supermarket, select the smallest banana (40¢/lb) I can find, divide it into thirds, and pay for the banana in 3 separate transactions. I use the self-checkout and it works like a charm. At most I charge about 18¢/month and get a 50¢ finance charge -- which means I only end up paying about $8.00/year to keep the rest of my $900 balance at 0%.

So anyway... The notice I got yesterday informed me that I no longer have to make the 3 monthly purchases. Instead, the 0% will stay on my account until the BT balance is paid off in full (which will be in Sept 2011), no purchases required. This was most unexpected but really great news!

I've only ever used my Discover card for this balance transfer, but I have to say that the customer service I've experienced with them so far has been very positive and makes me want to stay their customer even after my BT is paid off.

[cooliemae]

Just checked my discover card statement and my min. payment is around $40.00 which is about 2% of the balance, but I always pay the balance in full, so really no worries.

I did notice on my wife's capital one card that they basically converted her non-rewards card into a rewards card. I was pretty shocked that they would do such a thing, though it doesn't do us much good since we hardly ever use the card.

[tulog]

So every month in the beginning of my billing cycle, I go to the supermarket, select the smallest banana (40¢/lb) I can find, divide it into thirds, and pay for the banana in 3 separate transactions. I use the self-checkout and it works like a charm. At most I charge about 18¢/month and get a 50¢ finance charge -- which means I only end up paying about $8.00/year to keep the rest of my $900 balance at 0%.

So anyway... The notice I got yesterday informed me that I no longer have to make the 3 monthly purchases. Instead, the 0% will stay on my account until the BT balance is paid off in full (which will be in Sept 2011), no purchases required. This was most unexpected but really great news!

That is hilarious.

Possibly your fractional banana purchases were costing them money.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Neatdesign, I love your divided banana purchase story! Way to go!

[Jazzmint98]

Just checked my discover card statement and my min. payment is around $40.00 which is about 2% of the balance, but I always pay the balance in full, so really no worries.

Mine is the same, also.

[cschin4]

I only use a CC if I know that I can pay it in full at the end of the month. The CC companies are full of chicanery and trickery. I pay all my debts in full and am responsible and have never had a problem with CCs but I can see how people easily do. If you sign up with them at a certain rate, they shouldn't be allowed to just jump the rate up to whatever astronomical and loan sharkery level they decide on one late payment or one payment less than full. So, it is best not to put yourself into a position of even dealing with them.
I only have one CC and it is a Discover so I will have to check it out. I did open a JCPenney card a while back when they were having a sale and paid it off and then never used it. Then, I got a notice that they were increasing their interest rate to 24%! Unbelievable! I hadn't been using the card and had no balance but i immediately called and canceled the card. That is highway robbery and are there no laws about loan sharking anymore?

[PetMom]

Neatdesign that is so clever and absolutely hilarious!